WAS this a portent of things to come? Scotland made history at Broadwood Stadium after achieving a first victory over England at under-20 level to make the best possible start to their Six Nations campaign while simultaneously sending a note of encouragement to the senior side for the main event at BT Murrayfield.
The Scots made their experience count with big performances from man-of-the-match Blair Kinghorn, locks Scott Cummings and Andrew Davidson and the flanker Jamie Ritchie. Their inspirational performances raised standards all over the pitch and their impact was evidenced by the try count: it was 4-0 in Scotland's favour.
After an outstanding display of defence complemented by exciting attacking play the hosts richly deserved their win. The challenge now is to maintain their level of rugby when they travel to Colwyn Bay next Friday to face Wales.
Scotland showed their intention to attack from the whistle with some inventive running but it was England who opened the scoring with a penalty from their stand-off Joe Simmonds.
The visitors tried to build on their early lead but when a cross kick was fielded by Blair Kinghorn, the Edinburgh full-back dashed out of defence with a swerving run before exchanging passes with centre Rory Hutchinson to score a gem of a try.
The Scots' slick handling all but brought another score, this time for Huw Fraser only for the scrum-half to be hauled down a metre short of the line. The Scots were unable to profit and when Simmonds put over a second penalty England regained the lead.
Scotland roared back and one attack ended with Hutchinson winning a penalty close to England line. The Scots opted to run the ball and when Davidson was tackled just short of the line, prop Murray McCallum capitalised with a close-range try converted by Kinghorn to give Scotland a 12-6 interval advantage.
Scotland had to defend tenaciously as England used their heavyweight forwards to batter the Scots line. Having proved that their defence was effective, Scotland went an the attack that should have produced points. Adam Hastings broke through in midfield but the stand-off overcooked a his chip ahead to the goal area.
The Scots, however, were rewarded minutes later when Glasgow Hawks lock Scott Cummings crashed over from short range for an unconverted try. Then with England showing signs of unravelling Scotland struck again with a try from a line-out by flanker Matt Smith, Kinghorn converting from wide out to complete the scoring.
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